This invention relates to a two-part token and to a method of using same for business purposes.
Tokens can be used in two different ways. First, tokens can be used as a substitute for money, for example for vending machines. Vending machines such as those distributing low-price products like refreshments or hot drinks, are often operated with tokens in order to avoid that the clients have to have available an appropriate number and type of coins. Further, the use of tokens reduces the risk of vandalism, since there is no money to be robbed from that type of machine.
Second, tokens can be used as an exchange means, either for buying something or for getting it temporarily. Thus, when the owner or the holder of a token wants to buy a product or a service or borrow an object such as a book in a library, he hands the token over to the sales personnel and receives a commodity or is provided with a service or a right of entry. By accumulating the tokens, the seller of the commodity or the like is able to tell how many items have been sold and when to restock the items, or to find out how many people have attended an event or received a service. Different types of token may be attributed to different items or services in order to facilitate this task.
The seller may wish to reward the buyers or users who have used a large number of tokens. He further may wish to reward buyers not only for having bought certain items but also for having bought them in his shop or supermarket. Still further, the seller may wish to perform a lottery from time to time.
The invention allows for this by providing a token that is cheap to manufacture and very easy to handle. This token is in two parts, an inner one and an outer one, both parts being assembled by similarity of form. The token is provided with means for indexing the inner part on the outer part, and a code is stamped on each part such that, when the parts are assembled, both codes are mutually extending from each other.
With respect to the present invention, similarity of form means that the shape of the outer edge of the inner part corresponds to the shape of the inner edge of the outer part to such an extent that, when both parts are assembled, there is no, or at least not much, space left between the inner part and the outer part. Thus, the inner part will be held in the outer part by the forces of friction, but can be detached from it by simple finger pressure.
In a more general manner, similarity of form means that both parts of the two-part token of the invention are formed such that they look, at least along a sufficient length respectively of the outer edge of the inner part and of the inner edge of the outer part, as if the inner part would have been moulded to the outer part.
In an even more general manner, but still within the scope of the present invention, the features xe2x80x9csimilarity of formxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cholding by the forces of frictionxe2x80x9d are also applicable when the outer part does not surround the inner part entirely, but to a large extent, only.
Both parts of the token of the present invention are made of a sufficiently elastic materiel allowing the inner part to be inserted into the outer part and to be held therein in spite of its weight. It is important that the outer part holds the inner part securely, since the token is supposed to be introduced into a reader and to be taken out therefrom without any risk of disassembling.
The indexing means consist preferably of an indent provided in one of the two parts and a projection provided in the other part and fitting into the indent. According to the preferred embodiment described below, the indent is provided in the inner part, and the projection is provided in the outer part of the token. However, providing the outer part with an indent and the inner part with a projection obtains the same result: to make sure that the inner part will be inserted into the outer part in a predetermined position, in order to allow a machine to read the thus assembled codes of the two parts as a unique code or, at least, to read them at the same time, and preferably by means of a single reading device.
According to a variant of the afore-mentioned configuration, the two-part token of the invention can be provided with two or more indents and an according number of projections.
According to a further variant, the two parts of the token can be provided respectively with a single indent and a single projection, wherein the indent and the projection have a complex shape as described together with the preferred embodiment.
The two-part conception of the token according to the present invention is based on the idea to attribute one code to a product, a service, or the like, and another code to a person buying or using said product, service, or the like, and to be able, then, to reward this person according to predetermined criteria as will be explained in further detail elsewhere in this specification.
In order to be able to perform such rewarding, a code is stamped on each part of the token. When the two parts are assembled, the two codes are extensions of each other in being, preferably, adjacent to each other.
A preferred method of manufacturing tokens according to the invention is to make the outer part as a ring and the inner part in the form of a disk. But it is also within the scope of the present invention to make one part rectangular and the other part circular or both parts rectangular or square or in any other form, provided that the inner part be sufficiently strongly held by the outer part. Similarly, it is not absolutely essential that the outer part surrounds the inner part completely, as long as the retaining edge is sufficiently long and strong.
The tokens are preferably made of cardboard or of a flexible plastic material. They also can be made of different material, the outer part being made, for example, of cardboard and the inner one of plastic material.
When a token is presented in a shop, a code reader can read the codes very easily because they follow each other. The first code, for example on the inner part, is the customer identity code whereas the second code, for example on the outer part, identifies the commodity bought. Thus the computer at the place of sale receives a code including the customer""s identity and can immediately consult its memory to see whether the same customer has already bought other commodities and whether he or she merits a bonus.
According to the invention, the customer""s identity can be either a symbolic one or the real one. A symbolic identity will be sufficient, when a customer shall get a reward for each third, fourth, . . . product of the same type, or of the same family of products, that he buys. The real identity will be necessary, when the reward shall be attributed to the customer""s account or when the customer is rewarded only, if he has bought all said products at the same place of sale, e.g. a shop or a supermarket.
In order to provide for the latter condition, the customer""s identity code may include the seller""s code. According to a variant of that embodiment, that part of the token, which is provided with the customer""s identity code, has a moulded-in or printed-thereupon sign identifying the seller.
When the two-part token according to the present invention is used by a customer, the assembled token is introduced into a reading device of a cash register, which reads the entire code of the token and recognizes and registers both the customer identity part and the product or service identity part of the code. Then the cash register, compares these data with already registered data in order to open an award account, if the customer is using such a token for the first time. If the customer has already used such a token, the newly registered data will increment his award account. If predetermined conditions are fulfilled, the customer will get an award. That award can be an immediate price reduction that will be automatically introduced into the bill being established by the cash register. As an alternative solution, that award can be a bonus transferred to and accumulated in a specific account.
Further, the two-part token can be used as a means for a lottery. This lottery can be independent from, or on the contrary, be linked to, whether the customer has already an award account, or not. Thus, the manufacturer of a product may join to certain articles of that product, tokens having a specific product identity code: the winning code. When a customer uses the product identity part of such a token, he will get a prize. According to a variant thereof, the seller of the product may give an additional prize, if a predetermined condition is fulfilled.
Once the token has been read, it is taken out of the reading device and the two parts are separated from one another. The customer takes the customer identity part back, in order to reuse it the next time, and the product or service identity part is retained and collected at the place of sale. According to an advantageous alternative, the two parts of the token are separated inside the reading device, and only the consumer identity part is ejected in order to be given back to the customer.
When the customer wants to use the token next time, he takes the token of the next product or service and disassembles it in order to get the corresponding product or service identity part. Then, he assembles his customer identity part with that new product or service identity part, in order to form a new complete token. This new token will then be read and dealt with as previously described herein.